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Behind The Hustle :: Lisa + Josh Thompson :: The Farm Wholefoods

Author: Melanie Fawcett,
Producer on Purpose

Melanie Fawcett is the Founder and Head of Storytelling at Producer on Purpose, an educational hub and movement of mindful storytellers with a focus on empowering people and brands to share stories that matter. Mel writes and talks a lot, whether that be through video, digital content, old-fashioned books, speaking or teaching workshops that focus on forward thinking marketing meets mindful self development. Her first book #popphilosophy will be out in 2016.

This week we have the privilege of meeting an entrepreneurial husband and wife super-couple, Lisa and Josh Thompson of The Farm Wholefoods, who are not just taking on the world’s health food industry, but raising a small human with another one on the way! We find out the secrets to makin’ it work and mastering the juggle.

“We are Lisa and Josh. 5 years ago we met on an aeroplane and now we are doing our best to give the couple/parent/business partner situation a real run for its money. We co-founded The Farm Wholefoods and we deliver delicious food to people’s mouths in cool spaces.”

OC: Where are you and what time is it?

Josh: 5:23pm, at the office in Bronte and Lisa is finishing off her afternoon waddle (8 months pregnant) before picking up our daughter Indiana from day care.

Lisa: It is 9:30pm, I’m at home sitting on the couch, nestled in for a couple of hours of work whilst Indi (little person in the house) finally is in bed.

OC: What’s your elevator tweet?

Lisa + Josh: We are Australia’s first wholefoods cafe franchise. We are on a mission to make healthy a habit. Great food should be affordable, accessible and should be consumed in inspirational spaces.

OC: You open your eyes, take a deep breath, what gets you movin’ to meet the sun?

Josh: The earlier the better, it’s like a daily test of character (one which I fail regularly) but when I am in the ocean when the sun rises there is no better feeling.

Lisa: Ok I need to be honest and say I’m not a morning person. I often wish I was that person who sprung out of bed ready to tackle the world but I wake up and like to tip toe my way into the day. I personally love the evenings, where I run, go to the gym, or Pilates and work into the evening. I blame this on my IT background. IT nerds are nocturnal.

OC: WE ARE STALKING YOU {in a loving, not creepy way} – what will we see across your socials and in your regular day to day?

Josh: My socials are sporadic at best. There was a short run of commitment around the birth of our daughter Indiana but I generally like to live life rather than tweet about it.

Lisa: I’m also not much of a social user, I tend to shy away from displaying my life to the digital world in public. You will however find me in my daily life with a list and my paper diary. I love my lists, highlighters and planning what I’m going to do the next day or for the week.

OC: What’s the biggest brick wall you’ve scaled in business, and how did you do it?

Josh: Making a start. If you were to read my notebook over the past 10 years you would find over 100 business ideas. None of which I had the courage to act on. Being such a proud person I couldn’t quit and it wasn’t until I was made redundant that I decided to give business a go. In hindsight I wish I started something earlier as there were many mistakes I needed to make in order to become street smart.

Lisa: I would say finances consist of the big wall for us. It is a constant juggle trying to grow a business to where we want to it to go, run the day to day operations (on minimal staff) and continue to re-invest every dollar you make back into the business to keep pushing forward with the vision you have.

Our vision has always been big, from the first day of planning The Farm Wholefoods we had a desire to grow into a large, trusted and recognized brand both in Australia and overseas. We want to be a leading brand and are never happy with simply settling for what we have, so we are constantly re-investing in our brand to be better every day.

OC: EPIC books + podcasts that have blown the matrix of your mind?

Josh: I suck at books. I have 6 books on the shelf with bookmarks in various pages of the first few chapters. I am addicted to a podcast by Andrew Warner out of San Francisco called Mixergy. It’s a tech start up podcast. I have also recently started using a mindfulness app to help me wind down before bed.

Lisa: Book – Notes on an Exodus by Richard Flanagan. This book was given to me by my sister in law and despite only being 53 pages long it has had a bit of a lasting effect on me! This tiny book has a big message and has given me massive perspective and reality check when I think my life is tough. I just have to think about the real life situations of the people in Syria that they are facing at the moment to make me realise my daily stresses are trivial.

Podcast: I’ve actually muscled in on Josh’s podcast at the moment. He downloaded a meditation series that we listen to in bed and it has been brilliant. I often go to bed thinking of a million things and am still awake thinking about them an hour later. I’m also 35 weeks pregnant (we honestly keep forgetting we’re about to have another baby) so sleeping is starting to become a scarce commodity.

Lisa: “One day the people who didn’t believe in you will tell people they met you.”

This quote honestly makes me get up and keep pushing forward every time we hit an obstacle or get told we can’t do something!

OC: What’s your coffee religion and how do you worship?

Josh: Light roast. Full cream milk. 6 ounce take away. With a smile. Twice a day.

Lisa: 6 ounce latte in a take away cup! It has to be in a take away cup, even if I’m dining in. I don’t know why but I’ve always preferred the taste in a takeaway cup! (how many times can I put takeaway cup in one sentence LOL)

OC: You get your very own misty, dream sequence in a movie of your life, where 3 people alive or dead come to you like the ghosts of the Christmas past, present, future – who makes the cut?

Josh:

Past: Nelson Mandela: I would ask him how to be patient.

Present: Mum – Strength of an army, heart of Phar Lap, mind of a monk.

Future: Me back on a surfboard. It has been 12 months since I ruptured my ACL and life is hard enough without being able to do what you love.

Lisa:

Past: My teenage self. I’d tell me to relax a bit more and enjoy being a teenager instead of trying to be 25 at 15!

Present: Our Daughter Indiana – she is the cutest, funniest, silliest, best little human I know!

Future: Our little soon to be due bub! 4 weeks to go.

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